Lovely bit of footwork by Van Persie in the box and a snappy finish after Song feeds him of a sloppy clearance by Birmingham. Eboue stretches Birmingham wide before dishing to Rosicky who centers the ball which evades everyone before Diaby arrives to notch up the Gunners second goal.
But Arsenal would not be Arsenal if it did not believe in shooting themselves in the foot. The Blues come back through a Lee Bowyer goal after Mannone fails to collect a Diaby deflection that balloons skywards of a James McFadden cross. But the lapse would not have occurred if the Arsenal defense had reacted in a timely fashion to the unfolding sequence of passes. A nervy feel to the game.
The Gunners persisted coming close a couple of times with Arshavin dragging wide of goal having only Hart to beat and then Van Persie's blast clipped the crossbar. Birmingham came close to equalizing when a falling Mannone managed to palm Ridgewell's center and Gallas was at hand to clear upfield. Arsenal added a third goal after Arshavin coolly found the seam between Hart and the goalpost from a Fabregas pass.
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